The Bathroom Wall
by Born of Stars
Summary: Set 17 years after TBO, Steph's married to Ranger with three kids, who meet Joe Morelli for the first time. Only a short-ish story.
1. Chapter One

**The Bathroom Wall**

Chapter One

Unlocking her dark wooden front door, Stephanie entered the house and crossed into the living room to flop down onto the cream sofa. Her head dropped back and her eyes closed simultaneously as she visibly relaxed, a disembodied voice making its way across the room to her moments after she'd flopped down.

"Rough day, babe?"

Stephanie smiled at the sound of the smooth, familiar voice. Who'd have thought she'd be living with Ricardo Manoso nineteen _years_ after she'd started bounty huntering? It wasn't something she'd ever envisioned when she'd met him in a small downtown café, total bad-ass decked out completely in black and as dangerous as he was sexy, i.e. in the extreme. She smiled. The best at everything, it sometimes seemed. A better bounty hunter than she'd ever be. He was good elsewhere too. Very good.

"Do you think Zito just disappeared off the face of the earth, sometime in the last few days?" Stephanie raged exasperatedly, not opening her eyes. She felt the sofa next to her sink slightly, then the soft caress of Cuban lips on hers in a light kiss. She sighed, and opened her eyes to look into a pair of amused chocolate ones. He drew back gently.

"You'll get a lead on him soon. Look at your track record." Ranger said, the almost smile in place on the corners of his delicious lips. Stephanie hit him playfully on the arm and rolled her eyes.

"My track record involves the demolition or almost demolition of various buildings in Trenton, and a whole lot of ex-cars." She glared at Ranger.

He grinned back at her. "Gotta keep life interesting somehow." He brushed a light kiss over her lips again, then rose from the sofa to wander into the kitchen. Their kitchen. Jeez, Stephanie thought, I'll never get used to saying that.

Anthony Zito was FTA, and was turning out to be more than just a pain in the ass to track down. Stephanie didn't do that many actual apprehensions anymore – she wondered if she'd ever be able to stop taking in the occasional skip – but her instincts and determination, combined with her knowledge of the Burg and ability to piece together information, would make it a waste of those talents if she stopped chasing criminals altogether. Consequently, she mostly researched and tracked down skips for Rangeman now, the part of bounty huntering she'd always found easy. Of course, Wonder Woman wouldn't be defeated that easily, and she still took great delight in chasing and capturing skips, even if they weren't the same level as the ones Ranger did.

Stephanie turned to watch him leave the room, admiring the view she got from behind.

"See something you like, babe?" Ranger flashed 100 watts over his shoulder at her, dispelling her attempted Burg glare. She settled for an eye roll instead. How did he always know what she was thinking? Of course it may have been to do with that tiny, insignificant, little sigh she had let out, but then again this was Batman. Batman with ESP. Who knew what other powers he had?

"I can't get a single lead on Zito!" Stephanie shouted at his back, sighing in frustration, head dropping back onto the top of the sofa. Master of the subtle subject change.

Ranger's lips tilted, mindful of what Stephanie was doing, but let it pass. The large house they now shared had an open plan lounge/dinning room, with a wider-than-usual door leading into the kitchen. The door was – as usual – wide open, affording Stephanie a pleasant view of Ranger as he moved around the spacious kitchen, getting himself a glass of water. Her husband, she thought. Another thing she was still getting used to. Joe was always the obvious choice…they'd not broken up very well the final time, but managed to meet up a few months later when everything had cooler down to try to maintain their friendship. She knew Ranger had still often thought of him as a threat for a couple of years afterwards and was sometimes possessive – Steph smiled – but she and Morelli had too much past and too much in common to let it go that easily. He'd been transferred into New York City a few years back, but Stephanie still managed to see him on occasion, normally meeting up for Pino's and a Rangers game. She may be married to an incredibly sexy Cuban-American health freak, but just occasionally (or more that just occasionally) his rabbit food just didn't cut it. A girl had needs.

"You'll get him." The health-freak speaks, Stephanie mused. "Just be patient and keep looking." Stephanie snorted. Easier said than done, she thought. She had to be the most impatient person in Trenton. And Ranger knew it too – the almost smile that had returned to his lips told her so.

Ranger strode back into the living area, sitting down next to his wife and slinging an arm around her shoulders. Stephanie smiled contentedly, and laid her head on his broad chest. She closed her eyes, sighing, feeling completely safe in his arms, as she always did there. She loved Ranger more than she could measure, but had respected and trusted him longer, and like no other. And loved him for it.

Stephanie could feel exhaustion from the stress of the day pull on the edges of her consciousness, aching for rest, and could have easily fallen asleep in Ranger's arms, if not for the sudden infusion of noise into the house.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The sound of a key turning, and then the sound of voices – loud voices, Steph thought with a groan – filled the hallway and overflowed into the lounge. Stephanie reluctantly opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder, where three young, tanned faces had just come into view, laughing and smiling broadly. Marco, Carlos and Lia Manoso.

"Hey, guys," Stephanie smiled. Ranger's fingers playing with her hair was still as distracting as ever, she mused, leaning contentedly into him. It never seemed to matter to him where they were; whenever they were together there was an almost constant contact between them. Not that Stephanie minded, but it would be nice to be able to think straight occasionally. Most of the time, however, straight thinking was definitely overrated.

"How was school?" Ranger said. You would've thought Stephanie would be used to his toned chest rumbling beneath her head by now…Damn those Hungarian hormones.

"Fine," Lia shrugged, going straight from the door to the stairs. She had dark wavy hair reaching almost to her elbows, and a skin tone somewhere between Stephanie and Ranger. Lia was the youngest of the three, having just turned twelve, and the only girl. Consequently, she had learned to hold her own with her two brothers. Of course, it didn't hurt that she had more than her share of Steph in her.

Marco spared a glance after her, before flopping down on a couch opposite his parents. Seconds later, he had lunged across the room for the TV remote, just as his twin brother had dived for the same thing. Carlos got there first.

"No!" Marco shouted furiously, as Carlos flicked it onto one of the music channels. "You can't have the remote, the Rangers are playing! Mom!"

"Carlos…" Stephanie started. So she was a Rangers fan too.

"But hockey's so boring," her eldest son – by 18 minutes – said, looking at Stephanie with chocolate puppy dog eyes. The twins – although not identical – both had darker skin than their sister, though completely different hair to each other. Carlos had dark curls, like Stephanie's but darker, that just brushed the shell of his ears and always looked like it needed a cut. Marco's, on the other hand, had his straight hair cut short. "I wanted to see Eminem's new video." Carlos replied.

"It'll be on later." Ranger's quiet voice of authority sounded, silencing the two fourteen-year-olds instantly. Shooting a glare at his brother, Carlos signed resignedly, and slumped next to his brother on the cream couch.

By the first break, both teams had scored and were currently drawing. Talk quickly turned to what was happening for dinner.

"A couple of friends of mine that I haven't seen in a while are stopping in for dinner." Stephanie told her sons. She grinned, "Joe had to work this afternoon, you can tell him all about the game, he was really disappointed he missed it. Him and his wife are coming."

"What are we having?" Marco cut in. The all important question.

"Well, it's Joe, so there's no discussion really." The boys looked wary. "Gotta be Pino's," Stephanie grinned. The boys beamed, and high-fived each other. Monica and her husband managed this building in the same way Ella and Louis Guzman did the Rangeman building. Stephanie's cooking hadn't needed to improve with Ella, then later Monica, around to do the cooking, so although she wasn't quite as inept in the kitchen as she had been, she'd be the first to admit she hadn't improved by much.

Stephanie'd already talked to Ranger about Joe Morelli coming over for dinner, and he was more than fine with it. Stephanie and Joe had been an item for a fair while years ago, but had broken up partly because of fear of commitment on Stephanie's part and partly because of fear of Steph getting herself killed bounty-huntering on Morelli's. Morelli needed someone to settle down with – someone who could cook and didn't spend her days dodging bullets; Steph could understand this, but wasn't ready to fill the role herself. Consequently, Joe was now married to someone else and the two of them remained friends, too close to cut off completely contact after they broke up. Joe had got transferred to New York when the twins were five, nine years ago, but they still spoke on the phone and met up occasionally for lunch or a Rangers game. He hadn't seen her and Ranger's kids since he moved, all three of them being too young to remember him properly.

Ten minutes into the second third of the game, Marco grinned suddenly, and turned to his brother.

"Did you see what was written on the wall that Leo D'Antoni was telling people about?" Stephanie tensed slightly against Ranger, but didn't say anything, feigning interest in the game when her focus had suddenly changed to her sons. Surely it couldn't be…

Carlos grinned, and looked fugitively at their parents, who both seemed completely focussed on the game. He lowered his voice slightly.

"What the poem? In Mario's Sub Shop? Yeah!"

* * *

Ok, I know _nothing_ about hockey, so if any mistakes have been made please let me know and I'll change them. :) Thanks! Please review! 


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